A Comparison of Fluorescent Pigments From Flavobacterium and Sphingobacterium Species

Abstract

An extraction procedure was developed for the isolation of fluorescent pigments from species of Flavobacterium and Sphingobacterium. This procedure was conducted at room temperature. Thereby the possibility of thermal degradation of the fluorescent pigments present in these organisms was reduced compared to previously reported extraction methods in which pigments were extracted after heating with strong base. Extracts from strains of eight species of these two genera have been evaluated using a video fluorometer (VF). This instrument rapidly provides a two-dimensional fluorescence spectrum of each extract. Data from replicate extracts of the organisms have been compared in order to evaluate the potential for identification of these microorganisms on the basis of their fluorescent pigment content. Similarities between the fluorescence spectra of two of the Flavobacterium species and Sphingobacterium mizutae support earlier studies which have shown that these organisms are related on the basis of their content of menaquinones and cellular fatty acids.